Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Beta Cooking

This thread is not about crafting or the in-game cooking - it is about my CPU cooking when playing D:OS.

I think there is a similar thread on the Steam forums but I thought there is no harm done if I create one here as well and try to get a little more attention to this problem.

I am playing D:OS on a laptop. It is by no means a high-end performance computer. Neither is gaming its primary purpose. It is just an ordinary laptop, a few years old already, mostly used for working and just very occasionally for playing. It has an Intel Core Duo CPU with ~2.5 GHz, 3 MB RAM and a graphics card which used to be OK a few years ago but which is now probably on the weak end of the spectrum (ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 with 1500 MB).

Despite its age, my laptop can handle D:OS pretty well on lowest graphics settings. D:OS runs pretty smoothly, it does not hang and I have yet to encounter my first CTD. The only problem is that D:OS seems to cook my CPU. Or better to say, it scorches my CPU - very comparable to the current in-game fire damage. The scorching was not a problem before the mid of April. Then it got really bad so that my laptop shut down a few minutes after the start of D:OS. The one beta update two weeks ago seemed to mitigate the problem, I was at least able to play normally for an hour or so. And now, with this update the scorching is back again - my CPU overheats in the first 15-20 minutes of playing.

The idle temperature of my laptop CPU is about 35 C. It seldom gets hotter than 60-70 C. D:OS accomplishes to heat it up to 95-100 C at which point the laptop shuts down to avoid scorching damage. I found that the problem can be at least partially alleviated by Alt+Tabbing the game and by waiting for CPU to cool down a little bit. However, it is certainly not the best solution ever.

Dear Larian Studios, I do not care about eye candies, high resolutions, fancy graphics, shadows, water reflections, wind effects or other graphical gimmicks. I can use my imagination to add all the graphical details which are absent from my laptop screen. I am in love with the game D:OS - and not with its graphical wrapping. The only thing I would like to do is to enjoy the story, the quests, the tactical combats, i.e., play the game and not admire its graphics. I think there are also quite a few people out there in the world who would like to play the game but do not have a high-end gaming computer to run it. So, my humble request: Could you please try to make a laptop mode of the game which can be handled even by aging laptops without overheating? I do not care if you have to strip it off of all the graphical effects but I would really greatly appreciate if I could enjoy the game without fearing to damage my laptop.

EDIT: I forgot to say the Dragon Commander was running flawlessly on my laptop without overheating.

Do you have a cooling docking station?

Did you get the latest ATI video Driver which was released back in December of 2013?

Did you play Dragon Commander after the laptop shut down from over-heating (just to prove it functions with a game that is no longer in beta).

Going to START > RUN type in DXDIAG and supply the following information that should help Larian better.

(System Tab)
Operating System:
Processor:
Memory:
Direct X version:

(Display Tab)
Device (Top left side of screen)
Name,
Approx. Memory,
Current Display Mode

Drivers (Top right side of screen)
Main Driver (should be 3 .dll files)
Version:
Date:

And what Direct X Features are Enabled (Bottom of screen)


Yes this work might be a pain in the rear, but it will help narrow down the issue. A cooling docking station really can make a difference without you needing to get a new Laptop. Unfortunately you sacrifice efficient cooling for the easy mobility of a Laptop.

You should also NEVER let your cooling fans "scream" in your laptop while they struggle to cool it down. I mean scream as making a high pitch sound from moving super fast. This will shorten their lifespan by wearing out the tiny bearings in the fans. Replacing them on a Laptop is not always an easy task pending on the manufacturer of the Laptop and the model. The fact you've already let it get to the point of shutting down (multiple times from the sounds of it) has me a bit concerned that your fans are even working properly any more.


As a 12+ year customer here, I can assure you someone at Larian will review your answers even if they don't always get a chance to post.

Did you email supportdos@larian.com, with a description of the problem, or a link to this topic? Include the report.zip file generated by the D:OS support tool, for the included system information, etc (the saved games are not really relevant, so can be deleted from the report to reduce file size).

Oh oh Elwyn does your graphics card have a control center on the pc anywhere? where you can enable/disable certain things for it? and where you can slide down the rendering? (it will make the game models look like clay and a bit jagged~ but helps!)

I have an acer laptop I use for wandering around the house. Was able to play Divinity on it, but I had to turn everything in game and on the graphics card to the bare minimum. Things looked really blurry n sorta odd~ but it played!

Heating issue! I am not sure if I missed it while reading (sorry if I did) but do you have a cooling stand? I have an old one I use. It pretty much just holds the laptop at a slight angle so there is airflow.
Here is a picture of one of the newer models with a fan in it o.o (might need to upgrade mine =p)



Has Divinity been optimized yet? maybe you could suggest a laptop compatibility graphics setting.

There have been some optimizations, but more still need to be done.

Just to clarify: is your CPU or your GPU hitting those temperatures? Your GPU hitting those temperatures would suggest a video driver problem OR that you need to cap the frame rate in the options*, but if your CPU is hitting those temperatures then something else is probably happening.

* Enable vsync and/or set a specific frame rate limit of 60. If either of both of these things together make a difference then uncapped frame rates are probably to blame.

Thank you all who replied to my thread! Your help is greatly appreciated.

In the following, I'll try to answer to all the suggestions and questions which have come up.

First of all my system information:



@ LightningLockey, the last time when Dragon Commander was running on my laptop (a few weeks ago) I did not encounter any overheating problems. It is only an issue with D:OS. I think that I have installed the best ATI video driver available for my graphics card - at least it does not automatically update the drivers when I am running a support tool.

Unfortunately, I do not have a cooling station. My laptop however does not stand just on the desk or so - when playing I always put it on two books (one on each side) so that there are at least a few cm empty space between the desk and the underside of my laptop. I am not really convinced that a real cooling station would make such a big difference but I could certainly give it a try.

As for "screaming" of the cooling fan: my cooling fan has an in-built noise reduction so that I never ever hear anything. I have already been wondering whether my cooling fan was working at all but judging from the hot air coming it should still be working. I admit, however, that I was probably not handling the cooling fan with all the care I should: I have a Lenovo laptop and I can replace the cooling fan for as little as 10 ｣ in 15 minutes. Which I should probably do next if my overheating problem with D:OS does not get better.

@Raze, I will send a report with my problem to Larian's support.

@Ellary, yes I do have a control center for my graphics card and I think everything should already be on minimum for D:OS. Thank you for the cooling station suggestion! I will give it a try!

@ NeutroniumDragon, I have already enabled the frame rate cap but I have not been messing around with vsync. I'll give it a try, thanks! To be honest, I am not quite sure whether it is my CPU or my GPU to blame for overheating - both temperatures continuously rise to 90 C and over. Hence, I do not know which one is eventually responsible for the shutdown.

Thank you all again for your suggestions!